The high rate of
change of the rotation period, however, points to a rapid loss of rotational
energy caused by the high magnetic field of 4.1 x 10^13 Gauss,
The pulsar PSR J1119-6127 was discovered in 1997 in a survey
of the Galactic plane using the
Parkes radio telescope in Australia (Camilo et al. 2000).
This pulsar is characterized by an unusually high surface magnetic field
of 4.1 x 10^13 Gauss, similar to the pulsar
PSR J1846-0258 (Kes 75) - another VHE gamma ray source -
and among the highest
field strengths yet observed among young and energetic radio pulsars, intermediate between
'normal' pulsars and magnetars.
The large magnetic field combined with the - relatively normal - rotation period of 0.4 sec
results in a high loss rate of rotational energy.
The age since birth of the pulsar is estimated to less than 1700 years. In
observations with the ATCA radio
telescope array,
Crawford et al.
(2001) discovered a 15 arcminute diameter supernova shell (Fig.
1), labeled SNR
G292.2-0.5.,
and presumably resulting from the stellar explosion in which the pulsar was
born. The distance to pulsar and shell were estimated to about 5 kpc, with very
large uncertainty, implying a diameter of the shell of order 10 pc and age of
the shell of a few 1000 years, compatible with the estimated age of the pulsar.
X-ray emission from the pulsar was first reported by
Pivovaroff et al.
(2001) using archival ROSAT data and ASCA data, but it required
high-resolution imaging using Chandra
to resolve the X-ray nebula surrounding the pulsar (Gonzales & Safi-Harb 2003)
and to discover the jet-like structures emerging from the pulsar (Fig. 2)(Safi-Harb & Kumar
(2008)). Similar jet-like features are seen near many pulsars, including the
Crab pulsar. The
supernova shell is also nicely seen in the
XMM-Newton
X-ray data of Gonzalez et al.
(2005) (top image), in which for the first time pulsed X-ray emission was
detected.

The large loss of rotational energy of the pulsar, a few
10^36 ergs/s, makes this composite supernova remnant an interesting target for
observations with H.E.S.S., and indeed hints for a very high energy gamma ray
signal were seen in data of the
H.E.S.S.
Galactic Plane Survey. In follow-up observations for a total observation
time of about 50 h, a TeV gamma-ray source coincident with PSR J1119-6127 and
G292.2-0.5 was confirmed (Fig. 3). The emission region is
extended compared to the point spread function of H.E.S.S., and the flux is
about 4% of the flux from the Crab nebula. The centroid of the emission is
offset from the pulsar in the West/South-West direction, overlapping with a
region of increased X-ray emission from the shell (top image), which might be
attributed to interaction of the supernova shock with ambient material, or both. The
origin of the TeV emission is not yet uniquely identified; it could either be
attributed to an offset pulsar wind nebula as seen for many pulsars, or to
particles accelerated in the shell and interacting with ambient gas.